Counting Backwards: A Doctor’s Notes on Anesthesia
Henry Jay Przybylo

My first encounter with anesthesia came when I was around 5 years old when I had my tonsils out. I distinctly remember the black rubber mask and the smell hydrocarbon that was used by anesthesiology at the time to induce me to unconsciousness.

Through my reading of various medical history books (and reviewing the book Operating Room Confidential: What Really Goes on When You Go Under), I knew how important anesthesia was and how the anesthetists is the one that is literally the captain of the ship – not the surgeon as you might expect. It is the anesthesiologist’s job to keep the patient alive while the surgeon attempts to cure the patient.

Given the importance of the anesthesiologist in the operating room, I was still interested to learn how meticulous they must be. Dr. Przbylo demonstrated how important it is for the anesthesiologist to set up their command center, as he calls it, and know exactly where everything is located.

I must confess that I did have one problem with anesthesia back in the 1980s when I wasn’t completely unconscious when the anesthetist put the breathing tube in my throat. It was disturbing to not be able to move while feeling a tube being threaded through my throat. The weird thing was that I didn’t remember this incident after my operation but recalled it right before a subsequent operation. I told the anesthesiologist of the problem I had encountered with the last operation, and she assured me that she would ensure that I was completely under before introducing the breathing tube.

Even with that assurance, my body remembered the incident and I was shaking all over as I was transferred from my hospital bed to the operating table. I can report that the operation went smoothly, and I don’t remember anything about it.

This is a book that would interest anyone who has had an operation or is planning to have one. I always knew how important the anesthesiologist is in the operating room but Counting Backwards: A Doctor’s Notes on Anesthesia underscored just how important these medical professionals are.

4/5 stars

Finished Reading: 10 November 2024